Shadows of Brightwater

Chapter One

Brightwater was your home. A peaceful village at the edge of civilization, where the biggest worries were over the size of the harvest and the safety of sons and daughters fighting in the distant Tharn War. Though surrounded by powerful unseen forces, your childhood was a happy one. That all changed this past winter, when an ancient evil awoke.

Phineas Tailor returned home to the neighboring village of Nine Hills a different man than when he left. Confronted with the gruesome events of the Tharn War, he gave himself over fully to Erythnul, God of Slaughter. His dark patron guided him to the Slaughterstone, an ancient, sentient artifact crafted by the legendary Gilwen the Maker. Phineas broke the old wards keeping the Slaughterstone dormant, unleashing it’s mind-twisting influence once more into the world.

The murders were sudden and brutal. Brother against brother, son against father, husband against wife – the Slaughterstone’s whispers drove them all to homicidal rages. With Sheriff Carter away investigating in Nine Hills, it fell to you and your friends to get to the bottom of this tide of blood.

Your search took you to the Sheriff’s house, where you were besieged by both goblinkind and a mighty storm.

And finally, armed with the knowledge of what you faced and the tools of its creator, you shattered the Slaughterstone, ending its reign of terror.

But how? How were you able to get so far with your minds intact? How does a psychic artifact with near-unlimited power allow itself to be snuck up on and destroyed? You never had time to contemplate the nature of your allies’ “distraction.”

It was the lantern archon Cresn, familiar of Daruna the Wise, who devised an unthinkable strategy. He contacted the elf Thiondel, who organized his battle-brothers and sacked the village of Brightwater, slaughtering all. Drunk with victory, the rapt Slaughterstone could not tear its attention away, and was helpless to prevent its own destruction.

You saved the world, but destroyed Brightwater. Your lives are now irrevocably changed. You and your weary friends now try to make your way in the Kingdom of Oleand, unsure of what lies before you…